McCain welcomed in Silicon Valley but flops in Phoenix
McCain welcomed in Silicon Valley but flops in Phoenix
Date: Thursday, May 29, 2008 12:48 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1871 -- 5/28/2008 >>>>>
On May 22 Senator John McCain went to Silicon Valley for a fundraiser. He had
a meeting with corporate executives who talked about immigration and H-1B
visas. Not surprisingly everyone at this meeting wanted more cheap labor and
they were in total agreement that the number H-1B visas must be increased.
Upon hearing the news, the Indian press got a little over exuberant about what
McCain promised -- they claim that McCain said he will make an H-1B increase
his top priority (see first article below). Actually that's not exactly what
McCain said:
"we must enact comprehensive immigration reform. We must make it a
top agenda item if we don t do it before, and we probably won t, a
little straight talk, as of January 2009."
McCain was one of the original co-sponsors of the H-1B program and since that
time in 1990 he has never wavered in his support for more visas. It's one of
the few issues besides amnesty that he hasn't flip-flopped on. All of the
proposed comprehensive immigration reform bills, including the McCain/Kennedy
bill, had H-1B increases, but it's a stretch to say that H-1B would be a top
McCain priority. However, McCain left no doubt that he will continue to
support an H-1B increase:
"We need a temporary agricultural worker program, we need the H1B
visas, and we need an orderly way for someone to be able to apply
for citizenship in this country, in a process that they can count
on, and trust,"
While the Silicon Valley fundraiser was a love fest, McCain got a chilly
reception in Phoenix. Originally his campaign scheduled the meeting at the
spacious Phoenix Convention Center, but ticket sells were so low they had to
move it to a private residence. Even President Bush coming to Arizona couldn't
save this one from being a colossal flop.
McCain's humiliating rebuke in Phoenix shows that even in his home state
support is weakening. One of the chief reasons being given in the press for
this dismal showing is that there were concerns about anti-war protesters.
For sure there were war protestors as Bush went to a company in Mesa for a few
photo ops, and the protestors would have followed Bush to Phoenix to cause
even more of a stir. However, nobody in the press wants to admit the truth
that there were no McCain or Bush supporters to negate the protestors. In
Arizona McCain and Bush have lost their support on issues like gun control,
abortion, and more importantly IMMIGRATION.
If McCain had a brain he would realize that one of the main reasons Arizonans
are leaving the Republican Party is that he is seen as a stooge of the East
coast liberals. It appears that Senator Kennedy isn't the only one with brain
damage!
"Senator (Ted) Kennedy and I tried very hard to get immigration
reform, a comprehensive plan, through Congress," McCain replied,
accepting some responsibility for the federal government's
failure to get the job done.
articles included
http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/may/23visa1.htm
More H-1B visas, McCain's top priority
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9350139?source=email
McCain stumps, raises funds in Bay Area
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/mccain-says-immigration-reform-should-be-top-priority/
McCain Says Immigration Reform Should Be Top Priority
http://www.kcbs.com/pages/2238201.php?
McCain Campaigns in Silicon Valley
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/05/19/daily77.html?jst=b_ln_hl
Poor ticket sales, expected protests scuttle Bush-McCain fundraiser at Phoenix
Convention Center
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/05/bush_mccain.html
Look quickly! It's Bush and McCain together ever so briefly
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/may/23visa1.htm
More H-1B visas, McCain's top priority
May 23, 2008
"I believe we have to secure our borders, but we must enact comprehensive
immigration reforms. And we must make it our top priority," Senator John
McCain told chief executives of several high-tech companies on Thursday, when
he visited the Silicon Valley for a fundraiser event.
Praising the innovative strengths of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, McCain said
California's booming technology industry was proof of American competitiveness
and why the United States needs to keep international commerce as open as
possible, without erecting new barriers that would impede progress and growth.
McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, was flanked by California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former eBay President and CEO Meg Whitman,
at a roundtable discussion on high-tech innovation on the production floor at
Finelite, a maker of lighting systems for offices and schools.
The declaration came after several Silicon Valley CEOs complained about the
need for highly skilled employees and the problems they face over the cap on
visas for skilled workers.
Text and photographs: Rujuta Paradkar in Silicon Valley
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9350139?source=email
McCain stumps, raises funds in Bay Area
By Josh Richman
Oakland Tribune
Article Launched: 05/22/2008 04:44:13 PM PDT
UNION CITY -- Lower corporate and capital-gains taxes and more immigration
visas for skilled workers are the keys to keeping Silicon Valley and America's
economy humming into the future, business leaders told Republican presidential
candidate John McCain on Thursday.
Flanked by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former eBay President and CEO Meg
Whitman, the Arizona senator listened to and shot questions back at high-tech
executives in a global-competitiveness round-table talk on the production
floor at Finelite, a maker of lighting systems for offices and schools.
"I'm here to listen and learn, a lot more than I am to be talking to you,"
he said, saying in brief opening remarks that high gas prices, the housing
market crash and rising joblessness can't eclipse America's bright economic
future based on innovation like that found in Silicon Valley.
He cautioned that renegotiating the North America Free Trade Agreement, as
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton wish to do, would mark a return to
protectionist ways that hurt the United States in the past. "We can compete
with anyone, and we prove it every single day here in Silicon Valley."
The Valley returned the praise Thursday: McCain went from Union City to a
fundraising lunch at Whitman's Atherton home, where donors could give up to
$43,100 each through various state and federal GOP committees. After that,
McCain headed to a public rally at Stockton's airport and then another
Advertisement fundraiser at the home of billionaire developer Alex Spanos.
Attendees there, including the governor and a coterie of Republican elected
officials and Central Valley businessmen, were asked to raise up to $25,000
each on McCain's behalf.
At the round table, Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers said Silicon Valley
has "no fear of global competition," so long as industry and government are in
sync in responding to global marketplace changes.
"Ineffective response to change can crash a company, a state or a country."
RockYou founder and CEO Lance Tokuda told McCain low taxes are vital to the
flow of venture capital dollars that make possible companies like his own.
McCain said it's "indisputable" that reducing capital gains taxes produces
higher revenues, and the nation also must lower its corporate tax rates, now
among the world's highest.
Solar energy startup Innovalight President and CEO Conrad Burke noted China's
universities will graduate 700,000 engineers this year while America's will
graduate a tenth that number. McCain asked whether it's hard for him to get
H1B work visas to bring skilled workers to the Bay Area; Burke replied that it
is, although he prefers to hire locally when possible.
MetricStream CEO Shellye Archambeau followed up, noting annual H1B visa
availability has fallen by two-thirds since the Sept. 11 attacks. More foreign
students must return to their home countries after earning U.S.
university degrees; these skilled workers should get visas with their
diplomas, she said.
"Senator (Ted) Kennedy and I tried very hard to get immigration reform, a
comprehensive plan, through Congress," McCain replied, accepting some
responsibility for the federal government's failure to get the job done. He
said such reform is crucial to California's agricultural sector, which needs a
temporary farmworker program, as well as to secure borders and national
security.
McCain closed with a plea to business leaders in Silicon Valley and beyond:
"You've got to help us come up with solutions to this dependence on foreign
oil" so as to reduce global warming, curb the economic drain on America and
ensure national security.
Among those in Thursday's audience were former Gov. Pete Wilson, Insurance
Commissioner Steve Poizner, Stanford University President John Hennessy and
former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell.
McCain is expected to release 400 pages of medical records, including
documents on his August 2000 melanoma surgery, to reporters from about a dozen
national media outlets Friday. He has said that there will be no surprises and
that he's in fine health.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the guest list for a Memorial Day
party at McCain's Arizona home -- an event an aide called "purely social" --
includes at least three prominent Republicans whose names have been bandied
about as possible running mates: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Florida Gov.
Charlie Crist and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Reach Josh Richman at 510-208-6428 or jrichman@bayareanewsgroup.com. Read the
Political Blotter at www.ibabuzz.com/politics.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/mccain-says-immigration-reform-should-be-top-priority/
May 22, 2008, 3:51 pm
McCain Says Immigration Reform Should Be Top Priority By Michael Luo
SAN JOSE In yet another sign of his pivoting toward the general election,
Senator John McCain said at a roundtable with business leaders here today that
comprehensive immigration reform should be a top priority for the next
president.
Mr. McCain s willingness to address the issue was striking given how the topic
became something of a third-rail for Republican presidential candidates during
the primary.
When Mr. McCain s presidential bid stalled last summer, many blamed his
advocacy for the immigration reform bill in the Senate, which included a
pathway to citizenship for the illegal immigrants already here in the country.
The measure failed last spring after a firestorm of grassroots opposition.
The issue became an important touchstone in the Republican primary, as the
candidates scrambled to one-up each other in their tough talk on immigration
as they sought to appeal to primary voters.
Mr. McCain largely stopped talking about the issue and repeatedly invoked a
mantra that he had gotten the message from voters that the borders needed to
be secured first, before any solution for the illegal immigrants already here
is addressed.
Since he became the presumptive Republican nominee, Mr. McCain has given major
speeches on a broad range of issues but has not given one on immigration.
He found a friendly audience, however, here today at a business roundtable
held at a Silicon Valley technology firm that included Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger of California, Meg Whitman, the former chief executive officer
of eBay who was a leading supporter of Mitt Romney s but has since begun
raising money for Mr. McCain, and a host of executives from Silicon Valley
firms.
After several of the business leaders complained about the difficulty in
obtaining temporary H1B visas for scientists and engineers, something the
Senate immigration bill was supposed to address, Mr. McCain expressed regret
the measure did not pass, calling it a personal "failure," as well as one by
the federal government.
"Senator Kennedy and I tried very hard to get immigration reform, a
comprehensive plan, through the Congress of the United States," he said.
"It is a federal responsibility and because of our failure as a federal
obligation, we re seeing all these various conflicts and problems throughout
our nation as different towns, cities, counties, whatever they are, implement
different policies and different programs which makes things even worse and
even more confusing."
He added: "I believe we have to secure our borders, and I think most Americans
agree with that, because it s a matter of national security.
But we must enact comprehensive immigration reform. We must make it a top
agenda item if we don t do it before, and we probably won t, a little straight
talk, as of January 2009."
Mr. McCain asked others on the panels for suggestions about how to "better
mobilize American public opinion" behind the notion of comprehensive
immigration reform.
Mr. Schwarzenegger, a strong supporter of immigration reform, chimed in,
saying the effort could not be accomplished "piecemeal" and called for
lawmakers to summon the "courage to go forward."
"I think all of us have to keep that pressure on Congress," he said.
Later, Mr. McCain took up the topic again, saying the problem of what to do
with illegal immigrants already here needs to be solved, saying "they are also
God s children, and we have to do it in a human and compassionate fashion,"
which drew applause from his audience.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.kcbs.com/pages/2238201.php?
Posted: Thursday, 22 May 2008 3:32PM
McCain Campaigns in Silicon Valley
UNION CITY, Calif. (KCBS) -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John
McCain came to Silicon Valley Thursday to lead a business roundtable with
Governor Schwarzenegger and a host of South Bay government and business
leaders.
He praised the Valley's innovation and entrepreneurship, and said his
Democratic opponents are wrong about renegotiating NAFTA.
"I don't believe that the siren song of protectionism, of erecting barriers to
competition and goods and commerce does anything but remind us of similar
experiences we've had in the past history of this country with protectionism,"
said McCain.
More Campaign Watch 2008 on "Sovern Nation"
McCain also softened his stance on immigration, saying those here illegally
are still "God's children."
"We need a temporary agricultural worker program, we need the H1B visas, and
we need an orderly way for someone to be able to apply for citizenship in this
country, in a process that they can count on, and trust," said McCain.
But rather than answer questions about gay marriage, his ties to lobbyists,
and some controversial remarks by televangelist John Hagee, McCain called off
a news conference, and moved on to Stockton, for a rally.
He instead issued a written release, disavowing Hagee, who then withdrew his
endorsement of McCain.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/05/19/daily77.html?jst=b_ln_hl
Friday, May 23, 2008
Poor ticket sales, expected protests scuttle Bush-McCain fundraiser at Phoenix
Convention Center
Phoenix Business Journal - by Mike Sunnucks A Tuesday fundraiser headlined by
President Bush for U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is being
moved out of the Phoenix Convention Center.
Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling
enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were
concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than
attending the fundraiser inside.
Another source said there were concerns about the media covering the event.
Bush's Arizona fundraising effort for McCain is being moved to private
residences in the Phoenix area. A White House official said the event was
being moved because the McCain campaign prefers private fundraisers and it is
Bush administration policy to have events in public venues open to the media.
The White House official said to reconcile that the Tuesday event will be held
at a private venue and not the Convention Center.
Convention Center personnel confirmed the event has been canceled at their
venue.
Tickets to the event were to range from $1,000 to $25,000 for VIP treatment.
Money was to go toward McCain's presidential bid and a number of Republican
Party organs.
Anti-war protesters were planning to be out in force. President Bush's job
approval rating stands at 31 percent, according to RealClearPolitics.com.
The McCain campaign referred questions on the fundraiser change to the White
House press office.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/05/bush_mccain.html
+ At John McCain's fundraiser tonight, a pin can be had for $2,300 |
+ Main
| Former press secretary Scott McClellan turns against President Bush ;
Look quickly! It's Bush and McCain together ever so briefly President Bush, he
of the toxic public approval ratings, was in Phoenix tonight as the star
attraction of a Republican National Committee fundraiser to benefit the
presidential campaign of Arizona Sen. John McCain.
It was at a private residence and closed to the public and press.
That way, see, there's fewer photos and less film footage for the Democrats to
use to prove that a McCain presidency would be Bush III.
But McCain needs the money Bush can still harvest from loyal Republicans.
Here's the press pool report's closing paragraph on the president's
departure:
"The two men were seen together in public for a total of 47 seconds, according
to a review of the video. They were on the tarmac together for a total of 26
seconds."
They did, however, wave to each other.
--Andrew Malcolm
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